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Instructions

Important: Use only Compass Linux images and dstarrepeater packages.
They contain support specific to the UDRC™. Source is available
for review on GitHub.

During initial startup do not modify the basic Raspberry Pi setup. For example, do not overclock the Raspberry Pi, it is not needed as performance is more than adequate, and doing so can change clocking values on busses used by the UDRC™ causing it to either not function or be unstable. If you make any changes not listed in these instructions, and your UDRC™ does not function, return to the original settings.

Mount your UDRC™ on a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3

Note: We have a had few installations where the Raspberry Pi 3 has not worked in this configuration. We are working on the problem, but recommend using a Raspberry Pi 2 in the interim.

Make sure the pins are
properly aligned and use the supplied standoffs to support the
board above the HDMI port.

Universal
Digital Radio Controller

ircDDB Registration

If you are a local simplex node or using a personal callsign, do not register at ircDDB.net use QuadNet instead. If you want to use your personal call sign, you will be able to run the repeater and perform linking to repeaters and reflectors, but will be unable to do callsign routing including STARnet Digital groups.

If you are running a repeater, and haven't previously registered at ircDDB, now is a good time to register
a
unique callsign for your repeater at
ircDDB.net
. In the United States
this needs to be a club callsign, in other countries a secondary
callsign is necessary. If you already have an ircddbgateway
registered, you can just add this repeater to it at configuration.

Create the Boot Image

Obtain a high quality microSD card. A Class-10 card of
8GB or more is recommended.

The 'lite' version is without a GUI and will require hand
editing of the dstarrepeater configuration file. The full
version has graphic configuration tools for those new to setting up
dstarrepeater and ircddbgateway.

Unzip and copy the uncompressed image to the SD card using the
procedure outlined on the Raspberry Pi site.

Boot for the First Time

Place the microSD card in the Raspberry Pi.

Attach a monitor and keyboard/mouse to the Raspberry Pi

Attach Ethernet via the RJ-45 jack to your network.

Apply power using the microUSB port next to the HDMI port (good if
you are not at the repeater site)

Allow the Raspberry Pi to boot up

Login (User: pi,
Password: raspberry)

From a terminal command line, verify that the UDRC™ is
recognized by typing the command
aplay
-l
(that's a lowercase l) and observe that udrc is listed as a
card. If you do not see it listed, power down and remount the
UDRC™.

Perform any Linux configuration specific to your installation,
e.g. assign specific network addresses, install favorite tools, etc.
(This is beyond the scope of NW Digital Radio support, please use
Linux support resources for assistance.) Note: DO NOT RUN raspi-update - it will break your install

You may wish to edit the /etc/hosts file
and add reference to the hostname, for example if you keep the default
'compass' hostname, add a line
127.0.1.1
compass

To preset the pins and levels on the UDRC™ we provide a
script. Execute the following:

curl
-L -s
https://goo.gl/7rXUFJ | sudo sh

(the
'pipe' or | is usually above the \ key on most keyboards -- if you
want to see what the script does, leave off '| sudo sh')

To gracefully shutdown the Raspberry Pi, you may use the
command sudo halt

Install Applications

You may install any mix of GUI and non-GUI versions of the repeater and gateway software. Use the following commands on the command line.

For the GUI tools:

sudo apt-get install dstarrepeater ircddbgateway

If you want a set of desktop Icons to start the GUI applications, see:

and download file icons.tgz to the 'pi' user home directory /home/pi then

tar -xzvf icons.tgz

For the non-GUI tools:

sudo apt-get install dstarrepeaterd ircddbgatewayd

If you are running ircddbgateway on another computer, there is no need to install it on the Pi. You will configure dstarrepeater to access the ircddbgateway.

Starting
dstarrepeater

Make sure the UDRC™ is
connected to the radio or repeater via Mini-DIN 6 port.

NOTE: Many standard Mini-DIN 6
cables, e.g. PS2 cables, do not have all of the pins wired and will
not work! Be sure your cable has all 6 pins wired straight
through. If you obtained the cable from NW Digital Radio it will
have all pins wired.

Login
to the Raspberry Pi

Download the seed file for the dstarrepeater

sudo curl -L -s -o /etc/opendv/dstarrepeater_1 https://goo.gl/owjCLU

If using the GUI install, you can edit the file with:

sudo -E dstarrepeaterconfig 1

If non-GUI, use an editor like nano or vi to edit, e.g.

sudo nano /etc/opendv/dstarrepeater_1

You will need to change the repeater callsign and gateway callsign to your system. If you are doing a 70cm repeater these are the only settings
that need changed for initial configuration. Only adjust other settings if you understand their effect.

Troubleshooting

Each radio and repeater model may need adjustments to the standard configuration. The items that may need adjustment are as follows:

Under dstarrepeater config in modem sound card, make sure both TX and RX sound cards are set to udrc

Also you may need to adjust TX and RX invert based on the radio and band.

Modulation level is set using using the program alsamixer, select the udrc, adjust LO first and then PCM to get the right deviation

Detection level is set in alsamixer with the ADC setting

The "poor man's" approach to getting this working. (Without a deviation meter and spectrum analyzer.)

Use a second FM receiver and listen to the transmissions. You should hear modem tones on each transmission,
assuming you are using a simplex frequency (DUPLEX offset 0.0), for both your D-STAR radio and the radio or repeater.
Listen to the relative volume of the two transmissions. Is the radio or repeater is 'louder' or 'quieter' than the D-STAR radio?
If it is louder then you need to decrease the drive of the modem out of the UDRC, if it's quieter, then you need to increase it.

If they are the same, then you need to adjust the TX polarity in modem setup (via dstarrepeaterconfig 1)

If the radio is keying but no tones, check the 'Sound Card' settings in dstarrepeaterconfig 1 -- make sure both TX and RX are set to udrc.

How do you change the drive level, you ask? Glad you asked.

You need to open a terminal and run the program alsamixer and press 'F6' key to switch to the udrc. See here fo keyboard commands.

There are two controls that adjust the level of the modulation. One titled PCM (on the far left) and one titled LO which is almost
all the way to the far right (use the right arrow key to get to it). Start with the LO level, take it up or down (louder or quieter) to
see if you get the output level right. If that doesn't get you there, you may need to fine tune with PCM.
When you get it just right, look at the upper left of the screen and note the level in 'dB' for PCM and LO. You can use those numbers to
modify a script to reset the modem to those values in the future.

Note: if you do not hear any audio on the FM radio when the UDRC™ is transmitting, make sure LOL is not muted in alsamixer.

Edit the script changing the values for PCM, LO, and ADC according to what you found in alsamixer setup.

You can then use the script to reset values when needed.

ircDDBGateway

Since
there are no special instructions for ircDDBGateway for the UDRC™,
please refer to the documentation in the files section of the Yahoo
Group
ircDDBGateway
If
you would like a web based dashboard for ircDDBGateway, check out the
real time dashboard at
ircNodeDashboard